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What he said:

President Bush has said repeatedly that he would not insert himself into the presidential race, but that stance changed dramatically today during his trip to Israel. After likening Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Osama bin Laden, Bush compared Barack Obama to Nazi appeasers:

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," said Bush, in what White House aides privately acknowledged was a reference to calls by Obama and other Democrats for the U.S. president to sit down for talks with leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

And, of course, appeaser was the word of the week after that.

Turns out he was just being extra-special tricky:

Moving to avoid war in Iran in the final months of his administration, George Bush has approved the highest-level American diplomatic contact with its ideological enemy since the humiliating US embassy hostage crisis of 1979.

Shifting from bellicose threats to diplomacy, Mr Bush is sending an envoy to talks this weekend aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

NOTE: I am not criticizing this move by W.  I am surprised by the move, but in a pleasant way.

NOTE(2): I still will not put it past the chimp to start something in that period after the election but before the inauguration of our next president, but I do believe he would only do it if Barack won the election in November.  (After all, anything daddy did, he has to try to do just a little better...)

Posted by Earl at 05:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All in the space of a couple of hours I learn that Israel isn't going to attack Iran:

The US did not give the green light for an Israeli attack on Iran, Prof. Anthony H. Cordesman, a former Pentagon official and currently the top defense analyst at the ABC TV network, said Monday.

I learned that Iran is ready to strike back, almost randomly but not, if it does get attacked:

Iran will hit Tel Aviv, U.S. shipping in the Gulf and American interests around the world if it is attacked over its disputed nuclear activities, an aide to Iran's Supreme Leader was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"The first bullet fired by America at Iran will be followed by Iran burning down its vital interests around the globe," the students news agency ISNA quoted Ali Shirazi as saying in a speech to Revolutionary Guards.

Please keep in mind that Israeli bullets=American bullets for the purpose of this demonstration.

Then I learned that (at least) some people seem to prepare for the future:

A senior Iranian military official said on Sunday the Islamic republic is digging some 320,000 graves in its border provinces for future slain invaders, Iran's English-language satellite channel Press TV reported.

Iran's Armed Forces headquarters has approved the plan to dig graves for enemy forces in case of any attack on its territory, said Brigadier General Mir-Faisal Baqerzadeh, head of the Foundation for the Remembrance of the Holy Defense.

"We do not wish the families of enemy soldiers to experience what Americans had to go through in the aftermath of the Vietnam War," said Baqerzadeh, who is also head of Iran's search committee for missing soldiers.

This whole brinksmanship pissing contest is really starting to annoy me.

Posted by Earl at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know the popular (and incorrect) perception of Iran is of a bunch of jihadists praying daily for the utter destruction of 'Murika.

The cold, hard truth is, we don't have to worry about that.

We could start to worry about this, however:

As Burton Richter, an American Nobel laureate in physics, entered the main auditorium of Tehran's prestigious Sharif University, hundreds of students rose to give him a loud and lengthy ovation. But Richter, wearing a white suit and leaning on a cane, said he was the one who should be awed.

"The students here are very impressive," Richter said, lauding the high level of education at Sharif. "I expect to hear a lot more from you all in the future."

The students, young men and women with laptops and smart briefcases, giggled in their seats.

Once in a while, knowledge is power, after all...

Posted by Earl at 05:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you're not reading NewsHoggers, you're missing out on some excellence in blogging.

I'm just saying.

For example, today's post about Iraq simply states some realities we, as a nation, hate to face up to:

The Washington Times Post editorial today writes that "the U.S.-backed government and army may be winning the war" in Iraq, following reports that the month of may saw the lowest US casualty count - 19 - since the beginning of the occupation. Iraqi civilian deaths are down from 2007 highs too - although only to 2005 levels that were sufficient to cause the collapse of Iraqi society - while recent high-profile offensives by the US military and the Iraqi security forces have enabled supporters of the occupation to claim exactly what the WaPo editors are, that the war is being won.

But the war ended in 2003. This is an occupation ,and an occupation is only won when the occupiers go home and the nation is at peace.

The trouble is going to be our collective conscience when we leave and the killing that is natural for a civil war continues in a lopsided fashion.

...but history being what history is, eventually more people will come to realize the truth:

There's a 'war' between Iraqi factions that still hasn't been decided. There's a proxy 'war' between Iran and the US that seems to be a draw with no end in sight so far. Both are part of a combined anarchy of occupation and civil strife that means Iraq as a whole will be traumatised for years to come. Let's not forget that these conflicts are in large part due to the quickly-won invasion and the botched first five years of the occupation. High fives are certainly not in order.

I can only imagine about what the future lunatic fringe will be saying about how the war was lost by the left, etc....

Posted by Earl at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Regardless of how idiotic and possibly (politically) treasonous the President's words were in Israel yesterday, it has certainly brought about opinion.

Larisa Alexandroyna of The Huffington Post was/is...incensed:

Dear Mr. Bush,

Your speech on the Knesset floor today was not only a disgrace; it was nothing short of treachery. Worse still, your exploitation of the Holocaust in a country carved out of the wounds of that very crime, in order to strike a low blow at American citizens whose politics differs from your own is unforgivable and unpardonable.

...and that is perfectly understandable of a United States citizen.  Outrage is healthy and keeps a person focused.

Hell, when an archeologist looks back on this era of our nation, it will hard to dispute her.

But, of course, we live here now, so perhaps a more...objective view is necessary:

No, (probably) even Bush's speechwriters aren't so crass as to make such a blindingly partisan move in the American electoral race when their dummy is acting as Head of State of both Democratic and Republican Americans at a major international event. We need to look beyond purely domestic motivations - and we'll find them in the aspirations and dreams of the neoconservative lobby and their Very Serious Person enablers in the media.

Cernig goes on with his/the theory - A Wink And A Nod - and there is certainly a point to be made there.

My own thought is that the people who have been driving the President so far probably thought they could get away with it - Look at the job they've been doing so far, right?  Speaking of the job done so far, I doubt that the Israelis would start OR stop a job that needed doing on the say-so of the United States.

So my verdict remains unchanged through the Knesset-times.

My president is an inarticulate speech-reader trying to live up to daddy's reputation.

...and daddy's reputation isn't all that clean, although admittedly unverified. 

Posted by Earl at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)